Soy products in Japan. when I was a child

Soybeans came from China about 2000 years ago, since then soybeans
and soy products are most common food and ingredients in Japan.

Soybeans are a versatile food. It uses fermented
foods such as Miso, Natto and Soy sauce, also processed to make Tofu, Soy milk,
Soybean flour, Okara. So many more!!

I really don’t need to tell you the health
benefit of soybeans.

When I was a really small child, there was
undercover market near our house. You can buy Miso by weight, soy sauce from locally
made, freshly made Tofu. Such a slow food and luxurious life style in nowadays. (^o^)

BUT I Hate IT. I just didn’t want to go to
the market with my mom. Japanese housewives go to grocery shopping every day (still
now) so I had to go shopping with my mom everyday!! I didn’t like it because of
the smell and a little darker inside of the market that scared me. I must be 4 or
5years old but still remember.

This is traditional? super market in Japan. Individual shops get together under the same roof. Like a Sunday market, but this is open everyday. They open early and close around 5pm.

This is Miso shop. You can see many different types and flavors of Miso. I think Miso is more like cheese for western culture.

This picture is very close to I remember of Tofu shop in my childhood. On the right side you can see square white stuff in the water, those are freshly made Tofu. On the left side is the normally selling Okara(The by-product of soy beans into soy milk or tofu is the ground up fibrous part of the bean),thick fried tofu...

Japanese lifestyle has changed a lot, many woman get a job and works long hours, now big super markets everywhere and open longer hours, so very convenient for working people. There are so few traditional Japanese style markets now.

When I became a big girl, thank my mom, I still have a good pallet of Japanese soy products from good quality(traditional method) .

Those days when you buy a big brand soy source or Miso at the super market, it doesn’t taste like soy source or Miso anymore.

This is a soy source section in Japanese super market. You can see so many different soy source. You can buy good quority soy source from small company. Some store has more selections. I think soy sauce is like wine for the western culture.

Many companies don’t make old traditional way
anymore. Probably it takes too long and too much work.

About the Author

I design and create my own products by combining Australian and Japanese traditional ingredients which make my products very unique. I also design and create my own special packaging based on Japanese traditional wrapping method "Origata" for each product.